Facile Fabrication of Redox-Active Covalent Organic Frameworks via Reductive <i>N</i> -methylation

Redox-active covalent organic frameworks (COFs) are promising materials for electronics, sensing, and catalysis. However, their synthesis is hampered by the scarcity of redox-active monomers and the difficulty of functionalizing as-synthesized frameworks without compromising crystallinity. Here, we introduce a reductive N -methylation strategy that enables the universal and mild conversion of imine-linked COFs into crystalline tertiary amine-linked frameworks (NMe-COFs). The method preserves structural order while imparting strong electron-donating and redox-responsive properties. Among the NMe-COFs, COF-300-NMe exhibits an 11-fold increase in iodine uptake with a distinct gate-opening adsorption profile─a behavior that computational studies attribute to enhanced framework flexibility and raised electronic energy levels. Furthermore, incorporation of the electron acceptor 7,7,8,8-tetracyanoquinodimethane into COF-300-NMe yields a charge-transfer complex exhibiting distinct spin signatures. This work establishes a versatile postsynthetic linkage conversion strategy, paving the way toward stimuli-responsive soft COFs and purely organic spin-active materials.

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Publication Details

Journal
Journal of the American Chemical Society
Published
2026-07-16
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.6c01356
Primary Topic
Covalent Organic Framework Applications
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

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article

Facile Fabrication of Redox-Active Covalent Organic Frameworks via Reductive N -methylation

Valentin Valtchev, Qianrong Fang, Hui Li, Jinquan Suo et al.
Journal of the American Chemical Society
Covalent Organic Framework Applications
article

Facile Fabrication of Redox-Active Covalent Organic Frameworks via Reductive N -methylation

Valentin Valtchev, Qianrong Fang, Hui Li, Jinquan Suo, Fengqian Chen, Shilun Qiu, Bin Zhao
article en

Abstract

Redox-active covalent organic frameworks (COFs) are promising materials for electronics, sensing, and catalysis. However, their synthesis is hampered by the scarcity of redox-active monomers and the difficulty of functionalizing as-synthesized frameworks without compromising crystallinity. Here, we introduce a reductive N -methylation strategy that enables the universal and mild conversion of imine-linked COFs into crystalline tertiary amine-linked frameworks (NMe-COFs). The method preserves structural order while imparting strong electron-donating and redox-responsive properties. Among the NMe-COFs, COF-300-NMe exhibits an 11-fold increase in iodine uptake with a distinct gate-opening adsorption profile─a behavior that computational studies attribute to enhanced framework flexibility and raised electronic energy levels. Furthermore, incorporation of the electron acceptor 7,7,8,8-tetracyanoquinodimethane into COF-300-NMe yields a charge-transfer complex exhibiting distinct spin signatures. This work establishes a versatile postsynthetic linkage conversion strategy, paving the way toward stimuli-responsive soft COFs and purely organic spin-active materials.

Journal of the American Chemical Society
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR), Jilin University (CN), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN), Normandie Université (FR), Laboratoire Catalyse et Spectrochimie (FR), Jilin Medical University (CN), Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology (CN), State Key Laboratory of Inorganic Synthesis and Preparative Chemistry, Université de Caen Normandie (FR)
National Natural Science Foundation of China, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China Postdoctoral Science Foundation, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Higher Education Discipline Innovation Project, National Key Research and Development Program of China, Program for Jilin University Science and Technology Innovative Research Team
Affordable and clean energy
Openalex Percentile: Top 19%
Covalent Organic Framework Applications
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